36" Pompeii in Indiana, US

[GreenViews]

OK, I did just that on 4th course: started in back and spread out my width changes a little. Next course will be easier to do this as on this course I was dealing with a couple thin brick in the back on lower course and lined up a few cracks. Good suggestions. I may have to break free one of my latest arch brick additions as I notice this morning in pics that I have it at too much of an angle. The perils of not mortaring all at once or perhaps not a careful enough eye. Still, I'm happy.

[GreenViews]

Fourth course video: How I learned to relax, stop using the clamp and trust the feel of the brick setting into place. My discovery: For me clamping the brick on the 4th course was not being helpful. Perhaps the front face of the IT is slightly off the correct plane, perhaps my cuts were a little imperfect, but I found it better and faster to use the IT as a guide and set the brick into place by feel and sight without over-controlling exact position by clamping the brick to the IT. The new brick sets nicely down and against the last brick and they hold tight and one holds the other up and they are naturally aligning nicely without clamping. p.s. I'm just using an old phone with a cracked screen to record 32x timelapse for these. I bought a cheap magnetic camera holder online and screwed it to one of my tarp holding boards. Since it was a recent cell phone, still connected to my G account, so uploads video automatically. Simple

[JRPizza]

Yep - I can't remember how many courses I used my clamp on but when I realized that just buttering up the brick and using hands and the IT to smoosh it in place was all that was needed and way faster. I even did my steep upper courses that way. I found that I had a better chance of knocking a brick loose when unclamping than I did just pressing and holding for a few seconds. You kind of need to dial in the mortar consistency for holding on the upper courses.

[GreenViews]

Video: completing the inner arch. A good friend came over and I let him help me mortar the inner door arch while I finished making the special cuts for meeting the 5th dome course to the arch. I had been working on this and was almost ready to complete the arch. The only thing left for today is to cut 2 tapering (from full height to nothing) height bricks for the 5th dome row which will fit against the 2nd and 3rd from center arch bricks on each side. The inner arch key brick will be directly below the 6th dome course. I'll attach photos of how it worked for me to meet the dome to the arch. Remember: I have a low dome and segmental arch. Everyone's solution will look different; depending on dome shape/size and door shape/size along with door placement and maximum length of doorway arch bricks.

[GreenViews]

Meeting dome to inner arch: Happy Father's day all! I'm anxious to get out and build, but wanted t o share a few pics of my process of figuring out my best way to meet dome and arch. See my description and video above for part of this. In the end for my build: (remember everyone's build dimensions and shape will dictate how these meet and more than one way to do this even if exact same dimentions)

• I took a roughly dome shaped taper out of the bottom inside corner of each of my arch bricks (for better or worse, this was my opening move, lol)
• I took this one course at a time until a clear path presented itself. I didn't want to cut too much until I could fully visualize it.
• 1st segmental arch section met dome row 3 brick with a dome radius cut
• 2nd segmental arch section met dome row 4 the same way, so extended into the arch further and above first arch brick which I clipped the top of just a bit.
• 3rd segmental arch section was cut to fit under 5th dome row. I measured the inner edge of the dome brick as well as using the IT to maintain same height of this row. This cut was trickier.
• 4th and 5th segmental arch section were cut for a transition from bottom of 5th dome row to bottom of 6th dome row, so to completed this I have yet to cut a triangle faced brick faced 5th dome row bricks. I decided this because cutting these down to bottom of 5th dome course would have taken too much brick off of these arch bricks and I didn't have enough length to meet up with the dome well up to the 5th row. Might have been different and easier if I hadn't already cut my arch bricks back to 9", so note to future builders, follow the advice that I saw too late and keep arch bricks full length until you know how it works out, lol.
• arch key is cut to fit under the 6th dome course, so my 6th dome course will be the first complete dome circle course

[Chach]

You are making great progress. Looking good.

[GreenViews]

Video: Row 6 part A - pre-dinner Between 19 and 21 seconds, one can see the 4th brick I placed sliding down into the dome just a bit. No real harm, but I was watching to see if I had bumped it. I think it just moved on it's own, when I was exerting sideways force on the 6th placement (2 over). Didn't see it until later, so it is now an interesting characteristic of my oven! (And proof my bricks are interlocked and cannot fall out).

[GreenViews]

Video: Row 6 part B - complete the first full circle

[GreenViews]

Finishing arch to dome transition: See photo descriptions for process notes

[P3 Stoaker]

Looks great and terrific photo's and video's.

[GreenViews]

Recent build issues which become part of my oven's unique character. Did I post here how a bug landed on the one brick of row 4 that I installed upside down, creating an upside down V mortar joint? Well, now I have the unique behind the arch dome dimple of rows 5 and 6 and the sliding brick in row 6 to add, lol. Here is photographic proof. I'm too excited to be finishing this dome to care, but enjoy recognizing our less than perfect-ness, so here you are...

[BeanAnimal]

Wow - making good progress. I am not quote that far along.

[GreenViews]

7th, 8th and 9th course today. Should I use 3 side by side 9" brick with lots of cuts as keystone or go one more course around? On 9th course switched to 1/3 brick rather than 1/2 brick to keep the mortar gap smaller. You will see when you get there, lol.

[GreenViews]

To finish up, (at 8" hole) should I finish with 3 side by side 9" brick? or should I go one more time around? Based on photos of past builds, I'm going with the latter unless I get overwhelming support for the former option... Less tricky cuts.

On the 7th course, I switched from Acona refractory mortar (from Menards) to Heat Stop brand (from brick supply source). This was coincidental as I ran out of the Acona and had bought a bag of the Heat Stop 50. I found that the Heat Stop 50 held the brick in place better, so worked in my favor on the later courses. Just FYI if you are buying. I like the white Acona product, however, so not saying anything bad about it. If I were to guess, I'd guess Acona has more lime and Heat Stop 50 has more portland in their mix.

[GreenViews]

Video: Last row and dome key placement Shows me hand grinding off everything that doesn't look like my keystone